


Growing Inside

by thesometimeswarrior



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (sort of), Canon Compliant, Character Study, Ficlet, Grief/Mourning, Growing Up, Parenthood, Pre-Canon, Repression, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 11:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15706722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: She tells him gleefully, with as much of her alien naïveté as ever, when she comes to visit him at the car wash.When she does, the sponge falls out of his hand, and his hands fly to his head. “Pregnant?!”Rose always did what she wanted.





	Growing Inside

She tells him gleefully, with as much of her alien naïveté as ever, when she comes to visit him at the car wash.

When she does, the sponge falls out of his hand, and his hands fly to his head. “ _Pregnant_?!”

“I know. Isn’t it wonderful?”

“I…but, you said we didn’t have to worry! That we didn’t have to…You said you wouldn’t get pregnant if you didn’t want to!”

“And I _did_ want to!”

“I…But, Rose, you can’t just…Why didn’t you _talk_ to me about this?!…I’m not ready to be a _father_!”

“But you were so good with baby Sour Cream.”

“Yeah, but that was for like _one_ day! This is…this is _forever_!”

“Don’t be silly, Greg!” Rose chuckles. “Humans don’t live forever!”

“You know what I mean! This is for like…a _really long time_!” 

“But humans reproduce all the time.”

“That doesn’t mean _I_ want to!”

“Oh.” Rose’s face falls. 

There is a silence, and Greg rubs his eyes, pinches the bridge of his nose, then takes a grounding breath. “Okay. Guess I’m gonna be in Beach City a lot longer than I thought. But we’ll figure this out. Together.”

“Together?”

“Well, _yeah_. I’m not gonna just leave you to raise this baby by yourself!”

“I…Greg, I’m not _going_ to raise this baby.”

“What?!”

“This…this new life we’re creating is going to be half-me and half-you…And no being can exist with just half a Gem. They’ll have to get all of it.”

“What will that do to you?!”

“I _am_ my Gem. And so I’ll still exist, in our child. But they’ll be an organic lifeform like you. That’ll be their physical form. And a Gem can’t have more than one physical form at a time.”

“So you’re just going to be _gone_?!”

“I’ll exist in them! I’ll be _part_ of them!”

“You’re just going to leave me to raise… _you_ …by myself?!”

“No,” Rose responds gently, and with longing in her voice. “Because our child won’t just be me. They’ll also be you, and everything they see and hear and feel…everything that makes a human being themself!”

“But I’ll still have to raise them alone!”

“The Crystal Gems will help you. Pearl—”

“Pearl _hates_ me!”

“She does?” Rose’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “Well, she doesn’t hate me. She’s always…looked after me. She’ll look after our baby.”

“Did you _ask_ her?”

“Not yet. But she will. And so will Garnet and Amethyst.”

“I…But…” Greg stammers. “But why would you _do_ this? I mean, even if you’ll still be around in our kid, it won’t be _this_ you. Why would you…why do you _want_ that?!”

Rose sighs, crosses her legs and sits on the ground. “I want to be able to _grow_ , Greg. And I can’t, as me. But our child…” She places her hand on her stomach. “Our child will be human. And they’ll grow without even thinking about it. It’ll be so _natural_ to them. And to give them that chance—to give even _part_ of myself that chance—I’ll gladly give up this form.”

“And...” He follows her to the ground, then looks down at his feet. “What about me?”

“Do you truly not want this?”

“No, I do, I do! I just…I always thought I’d have a kid someday. I just didn’t think it’d be _now_.” Now he sighs. “Guess I gotta grow and change too.”

She smiles. “You’re also human.”

He exhales again. “But it’s not just...I…I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’ll still be with you.” Rose grasps his hand and brings it to her stomach. “In them.”

“Oh. Y-Yeah.” They’ll be time later, he supposes, to grieve, to miss Rose desperately and to figure out what he’s doing in this tiny town he only stayed in for her, to determine who he even _is_ without her in his life. But there’s more than him, now, even more than Rose. There’s a child to think of. Nine months—are Gems even pregnant for nine months?—to get ready. And Greg is happy about it. He _is_. And all the rest of it…all the rest of it can wait. 

For now, he forces himself to smile. “Should we start thinking of names?”

Rose smiles back, eyes already brimming with passionate potential. “What goes with _Universe_?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I love comments!


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